late nights
by SheThinksOfYouAsHerAnchor
Summary: After the argument in episode 11 (Eolas) Rhydian decides to follow Maddy into the woods. Rhydian/Maddy of course!
1. Chapter 1

**Set in episode 11 (Eolas) of series 1.**

**What if the argument between Maddy and Rhydian had gone a different way? **

**Late nights:**

The little town of stoneybridge was quiet as usual. The trees marking the outskirts of the surrounding forest rustled slightly in the late night breeze and the bracken occasionally cracked under the weight of light footfalls. The heavily wrapped up girl was shivering despite her coat and the blanket around her shoulders and ever so quietly cursed the boy in the bedroom above for being such a heavy sleeper.

Rhydian Morris stirred from his restful sleep his long fingers reaching across the cold sheets to reach for his mobile phone where it was perched on the bedside table. The screen clearly read that it was just after one in the morning (_He had double checked amazed that anything could have woken him when he was deeply asleep_.) He sighed rubbing his blue eyes and wondering what the hell had him up at such a ridiculous time. At the rather loud rap at his window he realised that he wouldn't have to wonder for long. He gazed rather intensely at the barely visible dust mark on the spotless glass left by the precisely thrown pebble.

He felt like he was in the plot of some ridiculous Romantic plotline, throwing pebbles at the window! How cliché! _Of course he was never going to tell that to Maddy, she would never let it go that he had watched Romeo and Juliet at his own will._

Rhydian sighed and quickly grabbed his trainers from beside his bed he wouldn't want to face the wrath of Maddy if he kept her waiting too long.

_He couldn't be sure it was Maddy. _Rhydian shook himself free of that thought.

Who else would be knocking at his window at this time of night? Besides as he crept further downstairs he could faintly smell her distinctive scent, earthy but so astoundingly feminine. He mentally scolded himself almost forgetting to carefully avoid the creaky floorboard on his way to the front door he carefully creaked it open having to gather himself slightly at the sight of her there tear drops silently making there way from her chocolate eyes down her creamy cheeks which where tinged pink due to the cold she wasn't looking at him yet but still gazing at his vacated bedroom window he took a moment to observe her wondering flittingly for a second how she knew which window was his bedroom then banishing the thought revelling in the opportunity to scrutinize her when her guard was down.

Maddy sighed deeply her small legs tucked under her on her perch on the wall in some futile effort to keep warm she tugged the thin blanket tighter around her. Rhydian saw her jump slightly despite the fact he made deliberate noise approaching her shuddering figure.

He didn't trust his voice as he gazed at her wanting desperately to convey his emotions but he couldn't for a number of reasons.

_He was Rhydian Morris; she was Maddy Smith, his best friend and confidant his main tether here at Stoneybridge and most importantly it was too late at night or early in the morning ,or whatever, to be supporting._

So instead his idiotic mouth spurted out in a totally irrational, Rhydian type way:

"What are you doing here?"

"I had an argument at home."

He had expected this and desperately fought with whether or not to offer her a hug he decided against it pretty as she was (_He found it hard to believe she really hadn't noticed her own pleasant appearance.) _He wasn't about to ruin there friendship by making her uncomfortable, even if she had kissed him in the past. All be it on the cheek.

"What happened?" Rhydian asked her she felt his bare arm against her own and wondered how he was managing to maintain his calm demeanour when it was so cold.

"They wouldn't let me use Eolas." She sighed a little making him wonder what else was bothering her. He waited for her to voice it when finally it came bubbling from her throat with such raw emotion it tore him apart inside.

"They're arguing." He didn't say anything just raised his dark eyebrows inviting her, urging her silently to continue.

"Mam and Dad." She said as way of explanation. "And it's my entire fault; I caused this… I couldn't sleep, they have been shouting at each other for hours non stop. They didn't even realise I'd gone."

"They will be realising pretty soon Maddy, they'll track you here, they will kill me if they realise I'm in a close vicinity to you." Rhydian said.

"I wouldn't let them," Maddy told him automatically, unthinkingly.

Rhydian sighed "Go home Madds"

"I can't." He didn't want her to, not really he had decided the moment her mother had warned him about her that he was going to treasure every moment he had in the presence of Maddy Smith.

"You have to Maddy."

"Rhydian, please. I won't be any trouble."

He caught on to her meaning. "You can't stay here!"

"Mam's driving me mad; I can't live with her anymore!"

"Do you have any idea what she would do to me?"

"No one would have to know."

"Has she told you what she said to me?"

"Yeah! That I'm not aloud to see you outside of school, it's ridiculous." Rhydian shrugged desperately but he was glad she was as annoyed as he was with the new boundaries.

"Well…" his brain hurt from over thinking. "…Maybe you should take it all under on the chin. Huddle down for a few days and wait until she calms down." He ignored the rather painful pang in his chest at this idea.

"No." She looked close to tears again. "All I want to do is live my life as a wolfblood. Which I am! I'm sick of being lied to and manipulated." He caught her small hands as they gestured to embellish her words.

His heart clenched at the tears running down her already wet cheeks. "You know your parents love you Madds, even if they have got a weird way of showing it." This extracted a small smile from her.

"They're scared of being something different, something out of the ordinary, I'm tired of it."

"I'd give my canines to have what you have Maddy." He said feeling her extract her hands from his tight grip on them. His arms swung uselessly at his sides as she brushed past him slowly pulling her hood over the waterfalls of dark hair.

"Hold on!" he watched her walk into the shadows. "Where you going?"

"Away" she said simply her silhouette disappearing against the gloom.

Rhydian stood there for a moment contemplating following after her he shivered as the wind picked up and quickly dashed in to grab a jacket before trailing after Maddy.

It took longer than expected to find her; the girl could be cunning when she wanted to be her scent was winded around trees, rocks and any distinguishable land marks.

Rhydian opened his mouth to call for her and then it hit him, he wanted to kick himself for being such an idiot. He could use Eolas!

He cursed himself for being so clueless; Eolas was the thing that had caused all this drama and he had forgotten all about it when it actually mattered. Typical.

Heaving himself onto his knees he concentrated on his surroundings, he could see perfectly despite it being almost pitch black now, every crack of a twig or branch had him wincing and losing his focus once more but eventually he managed smiling despite the situation at the sheet of twinkling stars above him.

Taking a deep breath before pushing himself to his feet and brushing off the twigs that had stuck to the damp knees of his trousers Rhydian set off in the direction his chest was pulling him, he couldn't see Maddy yet and he had never been so desperate to see her it had been well over an hour since she had left and he was growing increasingly nervous after all he and Maddy hadn't got the best history with the woods at night.

Rhydian relaxed drastically as Maddy's sweet scent filled his nostrils once more. His shoulders sagged and he wanted to cry out in relief _he didn't of course he didn't want to seem that much of an idiot. _He released a sigh instead and set off in a sprint coming to a halt almost as quickly as he started.

This time he did release an almost silent "Whoop" of joy there she was lying curled against a tree pieces of bracken and leaves stuck in her thick locks making him desperate to delve his hands in the tresses and remove the obtrusions. _Yeah to remove the leaves, that's the only reason you want to touch her hair. _

He leant over the sleeping girl and tucked the thin blanket tighter around her shoulders gazing for a minute at her sleeping face before leaning to scoop her into his arms.

Rhydian stiffened when Maddy's arms winded around his neck. He checked the girl for anymore signs of movement and almost tripped over an inconveniently placed tree root in surprise when her brown eyes slowly cracked open.

"Rhydian?" she murmured, he could tell from her thick voice she was still half asleep.

"Why's the ground moving?" she whispered closing her eyes again.

Rhydian smiled and rested his forehead against her own where it lay on his shoulder.

"Go to sleep Madds." His only answer was a small hum of agreement.

Rhydian quietly opened the front door of the Vaughn's house with his foot and, shifting Maddy in his arms, quickly made his way up the two flights of stairs to his room.

He didn't know why the sudden feel of nervousness settled in his chest. It wasn't as if she hadn't been in his bedroom before and him in hers for that matter. He supposed it was because of the lack of sleeping arrangements.

He kicked himself for the millionth time that night and forced himself to open his bedroom door and reach to place Maddy on the covers.

She wouldn't mind he told himself, they had practically shared the same sleeping bag the night of Shannon's latest sleepover/beast hunt. Rhydian smiled at the memory of waking up to Maddy wrapped around him, having moved closer during her sleep.

He quickly glanced back at the sleeping girl as she shifted in her sleep closer to the pillows.

Rhydian carefully pulled off Maddy's muddied boots and climbed slowly into the empty side of the bed kicking off his trainers in the process.

He gradually let himself fall asleep his hand moving closer to Maddy's and winding is fingers through her own.

_It was the best night's sleep he'd had in years..._ Rhydian pondered to himself the next morning having extracted himself from Maddy's death grip on his waist. … _Or possibly ever _

**Please R&R :) x**


	2. morning after

Chapter 2: morning after

**I don't own wolfblood … unfortunately. **

Maddy POV

In the little town of Stonybridge every resident was sound asleep, meaning the activities that would most certainly be the subject of talk and gossip that were commencing in the small double bed in the bedroom of a certain teenage boy were going unnoticed to anyone but the birds, and birds where not easily scandalised.

Maddy smith rolled over in a bed that she now realised was most definitely not hers, it didn't smell like her bed did, a mix of Lavender and chocolate instead it smelled of Musk and leaves and peppermint. It didn't feel like her bed did it wasn't at all soft with the occasional crumb left from her and Shannon's biscuit , but instead hard and sculpted and warm and breathing!

_Oh my gosh! _Where the only thoughts in her head as the events of the previous night came rushing back but she still didn't remember inserting herself into Rhydian's bed.

She wasn't all that concerned she knew they where both fully clothed she certainly had painful marks where her jeans had dug into her hips and the zip on Rhydian's Jacket was tickling her nose.

_It was surprising_ Maddy thought _even more surprising than waking up in the same bed as Rhydian_. Maddy found it hard to believe that her parents hadn't come to take her home, to rip her from the warm arms of her saviour. Maddy suppressed a giggle at that thought. _Saviour Ewwww she was going soft._

_Then again _the little voice in the back of her head said _you always have had a soft spot for him_.

She told that voice to shove it.

Maddy released a huge yawn, using the shift in movement to release her hand from Rhydian's clammy grip on it. And reaching carefully over the boy to check the time: 6:14 AM_ she needed to stay with Rhydian more often _Maddy thought astounded by the idea that she may be early to school for once

Maddy lay in the comfort of Rhydian's arms for another 20 minutes too afraid to wiggle out of his grip for fear of waking him (At least that's what she'd told herself.) she hadn't cared about waking the boy at some ridiculous hour in the morning to come and comfort her last night , she can't have cared about his sleeping patterns too much.

_But… _the voice said again _…you couldn't see him then. _

It was true that if she had seen him last night, been able to see his sleeping face relaxed and carefree she would have thought twice about bringing him into the harsh real world again.

She certainly wasn't going to wake him now until it was absolutely necessary … like needing to go to the bathroom.

Maddy winced as the urge came over her _oh for Pete's sake _she thought gazing at the peaceful smile tugging on the blonde's lips. _Why does everything happen to me?_

She sighed barely managing to wriggle out of his arms, and almost putting her elbow in a place that definitely would have woken Rhydian up.

She stood watching him for a moment before realising that, if he woke up it would look a tad creepy and completing her little triumphant walk to the bathroom that was down the hall from Rhydian's room

Maddy found herself praying she didn't run into the Vaughns , as nice as Rhydian's foster mum and dad where she didn't think they'd appreciate her wandering out of the older boy's bedroom at ridiculous 'O'clock in the morning.

_She was never going to tell Rhydian that she was afraid of his substitute parents. He would never let her forget it. _

As soon as she entered the bathroom she winced, the mirror showed a doe eyed girl with something that could scarcely be called hair attached to her head.

Maddy shrugged _she had woken up in her best friend's bed and had to sneak to the bathroom, might as well complete the cliché rom com morning after routines_ she thought running her small hands through her the tangles in her hair and stealing some mouth wash to swish around her mouth. Maddy winced at the indents the zip on Rhydian's jacket had left on her cheek and prayed they disappeared before they made the journey to school.

Sighing Maddy placed her hand back on the door knob and slowly turned it revealing the empty hall grinning with relief she practically sprinted back to the warm comfort of Rhydian's bedroom completely forgetting about the door and his heightened senses as the door swung shut the loud click of the latch had Rhydian's blue eyes snapping open.

She tripped up over an inconveniently places shoe in surprise, the blonde laughed.

Maddy kicked the trainer across the room and unceremoniously plonked herself to sit on the bed.

"I remember the forest." She hinted still wondering how she had ended up in his bed of all places, Maddy remembered falling asleep on the floor of the forest after an hour of trying but failing to nod off. She shivered automatically remembering all the noises the dark forest had conjured up.

"You fell asleep." Maddy glared punching him on the arm "I remember that bit, how did I get here?"

"I carried you." Rhydian murmured not meeting her eyes, obviously embarrassed then his usual cheeky grin lit up his face. "Have you been gaining weight Mads?"

"Well it looks like you need the exercise." She pointedly looked at his flat stomach. "If you understand my meaning."

Maddy landed with a thump on the floor "Oww!"

She looked up at the grinning blonde his hand still outstretched from pushing her "That was low."

He offered a hand to help her up, she tugged it so he fell down next to her he rolled his blue eyes having already expected it.

"C'mon Rhydian." Maddy urged "I want to run before school."

"Mads we have like two hours before we need to get to school." Rhydian told her turning around to let her get changed.

"I want to go on a long run." Maddy pulled her school shirt on quickly doing up the buttons and jumped into her trousers.

She thought a run would do them both good; it would after all wake them up a bit.

_It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that after running Rhydian's hair was always everywhere and his cheeks a light shade of pink making look absolutely irresistible. _The thought hadn't even crossed her mind. 

"You can turn around." Rhydian did so making the bed creak painfully and Maddy had to suppress a grin at his childish enthusiasm.

"Get dressed!" Maddy threw a pillow at him; he caught it just before it hit him. "I don't think Mam's realised I'm gone yet and I don't want to imagine what she'd do if she found me here."

Rhydian winced imagining facing the wrath of Mrs S again. "Okay."

The two teens raced each other as they always did. Rhydian in the lead as always Maddy trailing behind trying desperately to keep up on her smaller legs the only difference,( _a difference both teenagers enjoyed immensely if the grins on there faces where anything to go by_), was that for once Maddy didn't have to struggle to keep up as much as she usually did as Rhydian's much larger hand was wrapped tightly around her own as they ran.

Maddy hadn't ever been happier. With the trees looming over them and the light pattering of rain falling and lightly dampening her hair she could forget all the problems involved with being a wolfblood, her overprotective parents and the fact that she had spent the night in bed with Rhydian.. Who she was strictly forbidden to see.

Rhydian pulled her to a stop causing her to bump into his back awkwardly with all the grace of a hippopotamus.

She ignored the smirk on his face.

"What's up?" Maddy asked spinning around to look for what had caused him to stop. Rhydian grabbed her shoulders firmly stopping her from turning any further.

_He's so close _the voice started again.

It was right Maddy could feel his breath caressing her face from his place above her she fought the urge to close her eyes and watched the blonde swallow heavily seemingly fighting with himself.

"Maddy." She looked up at him questioningly and realised quickly that he hadn't uttered a word. They both pulled apart rapidly glancing around Rhydian placed himself in front of her slightly.

"Maddy!" was carried on the wind once more and with a jolt she realised her parents must have noticed she had gone.

Rhydian must have realised the same thing because he glanced at her curiously with those faded denim eyes.

"Come on." Maddy decided suddenly wrapping her hand around his again. "Let's get to school, if mam found out I was with you…"

She thought back to the almost kiss _even without meaning to her mam had managed to keep them apart. _

Summoning the little courage she had Maddy stood on her tippy toes to place a quick chaste kiss to his lips.

Rhydian let his grin light up his face astounded that Maddy had managed to make the first move and kiss him when he had been trying to gather up the courage to do the same thing to her for weeks.

He shook his head following after Maddy's fast retreating form.

There was one thing for certain _Maddy Smith was outstanding. _


End file.
